Schooling and childbearing: Fertility time preference and family planning methods among adolescents in Sub Sahara African countries

Naimatou Ouedraogo, Université Clermont-Auvergne

In 2021, 13.3 million babies were born to young mothers who were under 20 years old (World Prospect Report). Half of these babies were born in sub-Saharan Africa, with 101 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 years old. This rate is the highest among all regions of the world, indicating a concerning trend. It also highlights the need for effective measures to address the issue of adolescent pregnancies and promote sexual education and reproductive health services. Our aim is not to concentrate on pregnancies but rather on the factors that can assist in preventing adolescent pregnancies. Firstly, we analyze the knowledge of family planning methods among adolescents. Secondly, we investigate how identifying fertility time preference along with the knowledge of family planning methods can help avoid unplanned pregnancies and enable controlled fertility of adolescents in Sub-Saharan African countries. We use data from Performance Monitoring for Action(PMA).